For FishingMagician.com, I'm Eric Granstrom. The Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has authorized Cooke Aquaculture to transport 1.8 million Atlantic salmon eggs from its facility in Iceland to the company's land-based hatchery in Rochester, Wash. WDFW issued the transfer permit late Tuesday after ensuring Cooke met all the fish health standards required under state law to import Atlantic salmon eggs. Cooke operates net pens at eight locations in Puget Sound, including at Cypress Island, where one pen collapsed on Aug. 19 and released tens of thousands of Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound and nearby waters. About half of the 305,000 fish from the collapsed pen are thought to have escaped. After the net pen collapse in August, Gov. Jay Inslee directed that no permits be issued for new aquaculture net pens while the incident was being investigated. However, WDFW does not have the authority under current regulations to deny Cooke's request to import healthy Atlantic salmon eggs, which will mature at the hatchery into juvenile fish and eventually be used in net pen operations. The move is expected to take place later this week. Expect this issue to come up in the next legislative session. Until next time, Good Fishing!